The invention relates to an elongate stator for an linear motor and to a bundle of laminations intended for producing it.
Linear motors for electric drive mechanisms have long been known. A known linear motor, intended for driving a magnetic levitation or maglev railway for rapid intercity transit, for instance, contains an elongate stator secured to the travel way, which comprises many slotted bundles of laminations place one behind the other and a three-phase alternating current-traveling-wave winding inserted into the slots thereof.
The lines in the individual winding turns of the traveling wave winding are mechanically fixedly joined together in prefabrication and are then placed in the slots of the elongate stator or inductor (German Patent DE 30 06 382 C2). The mechanically fixed connection can be accomplished by means of clamps, which hold together the lines of the end turns of the windings and at the same time make an electrical connection of the line sheath with a ground conductor that is extended along the inductor past the end turns of the windings.
For mechanically fixing the position of the lines in the slots of the elongate stator, mounts extended over the length of the slots are used, for instance in the form of half-shells (German Patent Disclosure DE 33 09 051), which comprise injection-molded plastic parts and have laterally protruding resilient arms, which are braced, in the finally mounted state, on corresponding bearing shoulders formed in the slot walls. As a result, on the one hand complicated and expensive tools are needed to produce the mounts, as well as extra work steps for mounting the mounts during installation of the windings. On the other, the bracing of the mounts on the bearing shoulders means that a very thin corrosion protection layer applied to the bundle of laminations (German Patent DE 31 10 339 C2) will gradually tear or burst at the bracing points, creating opportunities for rust to form. Besides, the mounts become brittle over time, and as a result the snap connections formed by the resilient arms age and break. Elongate stators of this kind are therefore not as weatherproof as would be needed for use in rapid transit systems or the like. Because of the unavoidable play of the mounts in the slots, clattering noises ensue whenever something passes over them, unfavorably affecting total sound emissions.